Factory Yamaha's Ben Spies has put his hands up and admitted that two big mistakes in the opening laps of yesterday's Estoril MotoGP race cost him a shot at the podium.
The Texan came from the second row into fourth through the opening corner but then ran wide soon after, which dropped him down and then he did it again which pushed him back behind Alvaro Bautista and Valentino Rossi, and into the clutches of Stefan Bradl.
"I made two big mistakes in the first four laps, my fault, I lost ground and was behind Bautista and Rossi. Midway through, I was catching Vale and I knew with five laps to go I would be able to pass and catch him but then I made one big mistake, almost highsided, that was it, Bradl got back by me. I got him again but that was pretty-much it," said Spies, speaking to bikesportnews.com at Estoril.
"We had a bike that was capable of top five, maybe even a podium, but I was just a little bit over-zealous. I was happy to be at the front, happy to see the leaders and I was feeling good. I feel much better on the bike but those two mistakes ruined the race. The result is bad, I'm not going to lie about that, but I feel good with the front end of the bike now. The front is so much better, I was able to make up ground with people ahead of me which was good."
